Let's See Your Watches! The Vintage Watch Thread.

[jamespowers]

Way more so than a vintage one now days.

Oh yes they are. The vintage ones command thousands.

 

[Warbaby]

Perregauxs were high quality watches back then. They are still high quality watches that aren't cheap. The brand is one of those well kept secrets of the watch collector's world.

Yes, since they're not as well known to the general public as some other high quality watches, you can still find a great deal on one on eBay. I got this one about ten years ago at an auction in northern California for twenty-five bucks, and while it's overdue for a cleaning and oiling, it still keeps perfect time.

And while I'm on a roll with wristwatch show & tell, here are a couple of other vintage watches from my collection:

Not quite as vintage, but this Russian Raketa is still a cool mechanical watch. Raketa is one of the few watch companies that made watches with 24 hour analog dials (confusing as hell to try to read at a glance). The second crown rotates the outer dial with the names of major world cities in Cyrilic. I feel like a vintage spy when I wear this one...

 

[jamespowers]

Yes, since they're not as well known to the general public as some other high quality watches, you can still find a great deal on one on eBay. I got this one about ten years ago at an auction in northern California for twenty-five bucks, and while it's overdue for a cleaning and oiling, it still keeps perfect time.

And while I'm on a roll with wristwatch show & tell, here are a couple of other vintage watches from my collection:

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Looks like some nice 30s/40s(probably more 30s than 40s though) watches there. Waltham was the reasonably priced watch of the time but they made some high quality railroad watches nonetheless. That Waltham is getting on the Gruen Curvex bandwagon of the time. The Waltham curved the case. The Gruen actually curved the movement AND the case to fit it.
I like the shape of the De Luxe. Those had 19 jewel movements didn't they? My favorite family owned watch is my great - grandfather's BW Raymond he used as a night watchman in Hawaii.

 

[jamespowers]

I forgot to mention a great resource website for Elgin watch collectors. I bet most of you know this one already though:http://elginwatches.org/databases/elgin_sn_intro.html

 

[dh66]

Those are really nice. The Russian one is super cool. I looked at a ton of old neat looking Soviet watches when I was over there, but I guess Americans must smell like money or something because they were crazy expensive. I see 'em on ebay all the time for reasonable prices. (of course shipping to the states would probably rip you a new one)

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2

 

[Warbaby]

I found the Raketa when we were living in Amsterdam. N.O.S. and it cost me 25 euro. BTW, twenty-five bucks is, by choice as well as necessity, the most I'll pay for a watch. Keeps me from having way too many watches.

 

[jamespowers]

I found the Raketa when we were living in Amsterdam. N.O.S. and it cost me 25 euro. BTW, twenty-five bucks is, by choice as well as necessity, the most I'll pay for a watch. Keeps me from having way too many watches.

The prices must be cheap there. I have to pay $35.

 

[Warbaby]

The prices must be cheap there. I have to pay $35.

Well, when you consider the dollar/euro exchange rate at the time, the Raketa worked out to about 32 bucks, so we're not that far apart.

And as for my 25 buck rule, I have to admit I've broken it a few times but not by much. Except for a watch that I got on eBay a couple of months ago - I went to $65 because it was a watch that I really, really wanted. The only way I could justify it was by making an agreement with myself that I'd sell a watch or two to make back the money. I'll shoot a couple of pix of it after supper and post them forthwith. It's really sweet.

 

[jamespowers]

Well, when you consider the dollar/euro exchange rate at the time, the Raketa worked out to about 32 bucks, so we're not that far apart.

And as for my 25 buck rule, I have to admit I've broken it a few times but not by much. Except for a watch that I got on eBay a couple of months ago - I went to $65 because it was a watch that I really, really wanted. The only way I could justify it was by making an agreement with myself that I'd sell a watch or two to make back the money. I'll shoot a couple of pix of it after supper and post them forthwith. It's really sweet.

A watch you paid $65 for? Must be a nice watch.
I can usually fin a decent amount of 50s wristwatches or $35 each.

 

[BillJackson]

Wrist pic, just for you:

Keep in mind I have tiny wrists, so it won't wear so big on most people. It's a moderately sized watch, about 41-42mm with a nice thin case.

I once had the watch on a brown croc strap that looked pretty good. No pics of it, though. I wear it on the bracelet because it's such a nice bracelet for the price range - by far the best I've found for <$100, and as good as or better than many bracelets on <$1000 watches.

 

[dh66]

Nice one.

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2

 

[dh66]

I found the Raketa when we were living in Amsterdam. N.O.S. and it cost me 25 euro. BTW, twenty-five bucks is, by choice as well as necessity, the most I'll pay for a watch. Keeps me from having way too many watches.

That is a good rule to have.

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2

 

[Annixter]

Warbaby,

I like the Waltham. I have a slightly similar Elgin I'll have to post this afternoon. Nice watches both.

 

[kaiser]

Yes, since they're not as well known to the general public as some other high quality watches, you can still find a great deal on one on eBay. I got this one about ten years ago at an auction in northern California for twenty-five bucks, and while it's overdue for a cleaning and oiling, it still keeps perfect time.

And while I'm on a roll with wristwatch show & tell, here are a couple of other vintage watches from my collection:

Not quite as vintage, but this Russian Raketa is still a cool mechanical watch. Raketa is one of the few watch companies that made watches with 24 hour analog dials (confusing as hell to try to read at a glance). The second crown rotates the outer dial with the names of major world cities in Cyrilic. I feel like a vintage spy when I wear this one...

I have one of the 24 hour Raketa's as well. Not one you see very much.

 

[Warbaby]

A watch you paid $65 for? Must be a nice watch.
I can usually find a decent amount of 50s wristwatches or $35 each.

Not only did I pay 65 bucks ($67.75 to be exact) for it, it doesn't even run. Fortunately the mainspring and balance staff are just fine - in fact it'll run for a few minutes now and then, so I'm pretty sure all it needs is to be cleaned and oiled. Still, it's another 100 bucks or so.

Way older than 50s, though - prolly 1920s. I've become interested in early wristwatches, particularly the size 0 conversions and transitionals, and the wide variety of factory styles and sizes that immediately followed - a time when watch companies were trying to figure out what people wanted in these new-fangled wristwatches. A lot of the watches from the 20s and 30s were small by today's standards - which is a plus for me because I have fairly thin wrists . F'rinstance, this Elgin is only 30mm in diameter and 35mm to the ends of the lugs.

I had to have this watch because not only is the case really beautiful (and in near-mint condition), I love dials with Arabic numerals that tilt as they go round. They always seem a bit Alice-In-Wonderland to me.

 

[Talbot]

^^^^^That Elgin is pretty darn sharp! I'm calling that a great bargain!

 

[jamespowers]

Not only did I pay 65 bucks ($67.75 to be exact) for it, it doesn't even run. Fortunately the mainspring and balance staff are just fine - in fact it'll run for a few minutes now and then, so I'm pretty sure all it needs is to be cleaned and oiled. Still, it's another 100 bucks or so.

Way older than 50s, though - prolly 1920s. I've become interested in early wristwatches, particularly the size 0 conversions and transitionals, and the wide variety of factory styles and sizes that immediately followed - a time when watch companies were trying to figure out what people wanted in these new-fangled wristwatches. A lot of the watches from the 20s and 30s were small by today's standards - which is a plus for me because I have fairly thin wrists . F'rinstance, this Elgin is only 30mm in diameter and 35mm to the ends of the lugs.

I had to have this watch because not only is the case really beautiful (and in near-mint condition), I love dials with Arabic numerals that tilt as they go round. They always seem a bit Alice-In-Wonderland to me.

If I had the serial number I could find a bunch of information from the Elgin watches site.

Those were that transitional stage for sure. They used a movement from a woman's pocketwatch of the time for those. I have an Waltham like that. That was a good find for the money. I would have it fixed though.

 

[Warbaby]

The serial number is 31080894.

I'm definitely going to have it cleaned and oiled, maybe soon, depending on how this week's eBay sales go. I've got a bunch of cigarette cases and holders up now and I think some of them might do well.

Over the past year or so I've scored a couple of nice size 0 wristwatches that have movements that are prolly not worth repairing, but the cases are near-mint. Also scored several size 0 movements that I think only need cleaning. Three of them have fancy dials - two of which I'm going to put in the two wristwatches, have them cleaned, and hopefully turn a profit on them since fancy dial wristwatches seem to be desirable and pricey at the moment. Of course, if I make enough of one of them, I can afford to keep the other...

 

[jamespowers]

The serial number is 31080894.

I'm definitely going to have it cleaned and oiled, maybe soon, depending on how this week's eBay sales go. I've got a bunch of cigarette cases and holders up now and I think some of them might do well.

Over the past year or so I've scored a couple of nice size 0 wristwatches that have movements that are prolly not worth repairing, but the cases are near-mint. Also scored several size 0 movements that I think only need cleaning. Three of them have fancy dials - two of which I'm going to put in the two wristwatches, have them cleaned, and hopefully turn a profit on them since fancy dial wristwatches seem to be desirable and pricey at the moment. Of course, if I make enough of one of them, I can afford to keep the other...

Well, based on the serial number it was made in 1927. 430 grade, size 6/0, 7 jewels, model one. 837,000 were made from 1916 to 1927. Yours was one of the last made.

Early wristwatches do have a following that is for sure. Your best brand to sell of those is Illinois. Those can be pricey.

 

[Annixter]

Here's my daily workhorse. 1947 Elgin, 15 jewel with 4 adjustments. 10K gold-filled case and band. It keeps amazing time. It's due for a cleaning, but I can't bring myself to spend the $200 at my watchmakers right now.